This document compares river bank filtration (RBF) to other water filtration techniques used in Haridwar, India. RBF involves extracting water from rivers using production wells located along river banks. During the underground passage, various processes improve water quality by removing contaminants. The study analyzed water from 20 RBF wells, 2 surface water sources, and previous studies on groundwater and municipal water. Results showed RBF water had lower levels of total dissolved solids, hardness, fluoride, nitrates, and conductivity compared to groundwater. RBF also effectively removed turbidity and fecal coliform. While chloride and sulfate levels were slightly higher than municipal water, they were still within permissible limits. Overall, RBF provided the best quality

1. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2576
Comparison of River Bank Filtration with other filtration technique at
Haridwar city
Ankit Shrikoti1, M.P.Sharma 2
1M.Tech Student, Alternate Hydroenergy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.
2Professor & Head, Alternate Hydroenergy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------***----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keywords: River bank filtration, Ground water / Surface water relation, hydrochemistry, Production well, NSFWQI.
1. Introduction
RBF a natural water purification technology, involves extracting of water from rivers by production wells. During the process,
when a number of chemical, physical, and biological processes occur and enhance the quality of water. During these process,
polluted elements present in river water are removed and hence it is an alternative of conventional drinking water treatment
[1].RBF is efficient in removing turbidity, natural organic matter, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, microorganism etc. [2].
RBF consist of a process in which pumping wells located along river bank induces flow of the river water towards the wells.
During which, the processes like filtration, microbial degradation, sorption to sediment and aquifer sand, and dilution with
background groundwater occur with the removal of contaminants of water [4].
Other sources of drinking water at Haridwar city is ground water which is extracted by dug well, hand pump, bore well etc.
and municipal supplied treated water. The objective of paper is compare the all water technique and find the efficient one.
2. STUDY SITE AND ITS METHODOLOGY
2.1 River bank filtration technique
Haridwar (29° 58' and78°10' E), located on the west side of Uttarakhand state of India, is one of the most religious
places for Hindus. The city of Haridwar is situated between the Ganga River in the South and the Shiavlik Mountain in the
North and Northeast. Dehradun and Pauri bounds Haridwar district in northeast, Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh in the
southeast (Fig 1) and the geographical area covered by Haridwar district is 2360 km2.The population is about .27 million,
According to 2011 census. Approx. 0.5-0.6 people visit Haridwar every year for religious rituals. Kumbha Mela and
Ardhakumbha. Where 7 million people take bath in Holy River in these occasions
ABSTRACT:- Riverbank filtration is a natural water treatment technology that consists of extracting water from rivers by
pumping wells located in areas at vicinity of river. During the process when water passage underground, a series of chemical,
physical, and biological processes occur and improve the quality of river water. Study site is situated in Haridwar (India). There
are 20 production well and 2 monitoring well along the vicinity the river Ganga and the upper Ganga canal. The objective of this
paper is to compare the performance of RBF water with ground water by other technique at Haridwar by checking the water
Quality at various parameter .the filtered water were tested for different water quality parameter and best result shown by RBF
as compare to ground water and municipal treated water. Therefor RBF can provide an alternate source of drinking water.

2. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2577
Fig 1: Haridwar bounded by other cities [24]
Fig 2: River bank filtration site with production well in the vicinity of the river Ganga and upper Ganga canal at
Haridwar.
A part of River Ganga at Haridwar is diverted into the Upper Ganga Canal (UGC). For the irrigation purpose, the water is
supplied through UGC. A barrage (Bhimgoda barrage) or headwork was constructed on the River Ganga near Pant Dweep
Island where an additional supply of water is provided through New Supply Channel (NSC) to the UGC (Fig 2). There are 25
tube wells and 22 production wells located on the bank of River Ganga. Location is shown in Fig 2.
Some of the Water quality parameters were determinant in the field while for the others samples were preserved & brought to
the laboratory for analysis as per standard method of analysis (APHA).a total of 21 samples were collected from 21 production
wells, while 2 sample of surface water from Pantdweep Island and UGC in December 2015.

3. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2578
2.2 ground water
Gopal Krishnan et al studied, 40 sites of water at Haridwar city for assessing the groundwater quality and analyzed in
Laboratory of Central Groundwater Board (CGWB), Dehradun using the standard procedure described by APHA (2012). In the
present study, 7 parameters have been considered to compute WQI. These parameters include pH, Total Dissolved Solids,
Total Hardness, Fluoride, Chloride, Sulfate and Nitrate. The quality rating scale and accordingly the weight values have been
assigned to the selected parameters to estimate the overall water quality index. Governed by as per BIS: 10500-2012 and
Central Pollution
Fig 3: sample location of ground water
2.3 Municipal treated water
Nitin kamboj et al studied five municipal supplied sites including 20 sample from these site. The taps were continuously run
prior to sampling. Sample were collected in plastic bottle and preserved by adding ultra-pure nitric acid, while samples for
bacteriological analysis were collected in sterilized bottles covered with aluminum foils. The tests were performed in
laboratory of gurukul kangri university, Haridwar. The physio chemical analysis was performed following standard method
(apha 1998 and IS: 10500:2012). Total coliform collected by MacConkey broth.
3. Result and discussion
The sample were collected from different sites and make average result in year 2015 by RBF technique and compare the
result with municipal water result of year 2015 [5] and ground water collected from hand pump ,dug well ,bore well of year
2014-1015 [6].
parameter Ground water municipal water RBF
pH 8 7.2 6.8
fluorine 0.2 Not performed 0.2
Chloride 29.2 21.86 23.58
sulphate 36.4 20 22.5

4. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2579
nitrate 15.6 1.12 1.02
TDS 426.4 373 217.69
total
hardness
271.1 314 162
turbidity not performed 0.1 1.2
conductivity not performed 483.6 457.21
Fecal
coliform
not performed ABSENT Absent
Fig 4: Comparative results of different filtration technique part 1 at Haridwar city
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
pH fluorine Chloride sulphate nitrate
Ground water municipal water RBF

5. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2580
Fig 5: Comparative results of different filtration technique part 2 at Haridwar city
As graph clearly show that result got from RBF are better than other two, only chloride and sulphate content is more than
municipal treated water. Which is also under permissible limit. RBF technique also good for removal of fecal coliform and
Turbidity. Which is major problem in hilly state.
Conclusions
The drinking water supply from different source tested at Haridwar and now compare to each other results. The location were
different sites at Haridwar, and result are compare according average data from different sites. Based on the study conclusion
are mentioned below-
1. Removal of total and fecal coliform during RBF Technique and municipal water treatment are efficient.
2. Results showed that RBF Technique has lesser hardness, TDS, Fluoride, nitrate content and conductivity.
3. Chloride content and sulphate content is more in RBF as compare to municipal treated water but within permissible
limit.
Result shows that RBF technique is most efficient technique of water treatment .The water quality parameters of filtered
water are with in desirable limit as per IS 10500. So the water is suitable for drinking purpose. The 48% of water supply of
Haridwar city is provided by these RBF wells and an alternate source of drinking water supply.
References
1. Bertelkamp, Cheryl, et al. "Sorption and biodegradation of organic micro pollutants during river bank filtration: a
laboratory column study." water research 52 (2014): 231-241.
2. Ray, Chittaranjan, et al. "A perspective of riverbank filtration." American Water Works Association. Journal 94.4
(2002): 149.
3. Singh, P., et al. "Impact of riverbank filtration on treatment of polluted river water." Journal of environmental
management 91.5 (2010): 1055-1062.
4. Ray, Chittaranjan. "Worldwide potential of riverbank filtration." Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 10.3
(2008): 223-225.
5. Krishan ,Gopal ,et al “Water quality index of groundwater in Haridwar district, Uttarakhand” Article in Water and
Energy International · January 2016
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
TDS Total Hardness Conductivity
Ground water Municipal Water RBF

6. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 06 | June 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 2581
6. Kamoj , Nitin et al “Quality Assessment of municipal supplied water for drinking purpose district Haridwar” Journal of
global business ISSN 2320-1355, volume 4, number 5
7. Verstraeten, I. M., et al. "Changes in concentrations of triazine and acetamide herbicides by bank filtration, ozonation,
and chlorination in a public water supply." Journal of Hydrology 266.3 (2002): 190-208.IndiaKuehn, W. and Mueller,
U., Riverbank filtration: an overview. J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 2002, 92, 60–69.
8. Sandhu, Cornelius, et al. "Potential for riverbank filtration in India." Clean Technologies and Environmental
Policy 13.2 (2011): 295-316.
9. Henzler, Aline F., Janek Greskowiak, and Gudrun Massmann. "Modeling the fate of organic micro pollutants during
river bank filtration (Berlin, Germany)." Journal of contaminant hydrology 156 (2014): 78-92.
10. Anderson, Erik I. "Stable pumping rates for horizontal wells in bank filtration systems." Advances in Water
Resources 54 (2013): 57-66.
11. Federation, Water Environmental, and American Public Health Association. "Standard methods for the examination of
water and wastewater." American Public Health Association (APHA): Washington, DC, USA (2005).
12. Wett, Bernhard, Hannes Jarosch, and Kurt Ingerle. "Flood induced infiltration affecting a bank filtrate well at the River
Enns, Austria." Journal of Hydrology266.3 (2002): 222-234.
13. BIS, Specifications for drinking water IS 10500. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1991.
14. BIS, Specifications for drinking water IS: 10500:2004, 2nd revision. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2004.
15. Blavier, Julie, et al. "Investigation of riverbed filtration systems on the Parapeti River, Bolivia." Journal of Water
Process Engineering 1 (2014): 27-36.
16. Ghosh, Narayan C., et al. "Performance evaluation of riverbank filtration scheme." CURRENT SCIENCE 109.2 (2015):
291-300
17. Hiscock, K. M., and T. Grischek. "Attenuation of groundwater pollution by bank filtration." Journal of Hydrology 266.3
(2002): 139-144.
18. Holzbecher, Ekkehard. "Calculating the effect of natural attenuation during bank filtration." Computers &
geosciences 32.9 (2006): 1451-1460.
19. Holzbecher, Ekkehard. "Calculating the effect of natural attenuation during bank filtration." Computers &
geosciences 32.9 (2006): 1451-1460.
20. Weiss, W. Joshua, et al. "Riverbank filtration for control of microorganisms: Results from field monitoring." Water
Research 39.10 (2005): 1990-2001.
21. Sharma, Bhavtosh, et al. "A sustainable solution for safe drinking water through bank filtration technology in
Uttarakhand, India." Current Science107.7 (2014): 1118.
22. Lorenzen, G., et al. "Assessment of the potential for bank filtration in a water-stressed megacity (Delhi,
India)." Environmental Earth Sciences 61.7 (2010): 1419-1434.
23. "Changing mechanism of global water scarcity events: Impacts of socioeconomic changes and inter-annual hydro-
climatic variability." Global Environmental Change 32 (2015): 18-29.
24. Map of Haridwar (February 2016) , Retrieved from euttaranchal:
http://www.euttaranchal.com/maps/haridwar_map.php
25. Thakur, A. K., and C. S. P. Ojha. "Variation of turbidity during subsurface abstraction of river water: A case
study." International Journal of Sediment Research 25.4 (2010): 355-365.
26. Tufenkji, Nathalie, Joseph N. Ryan, and Menachem Elimelech. "Peer reviewed: The promise of bank
filtration." Environmental science & technology 36.21 (2002): 422A-428A..